Donatella Versace is a brilliant businesswoman who understands how to sell.

During the 1990s, when Versace was in its heyday and Gianni was still alive, the house showed the world what high fashion looks like for a younger, ambitious, and more self-aware customer base. Sure, the clothes played a big role in shaping the Versace narrative and its success. But more importantly, it’s how Donatella convinced her brother to emotionally connect with their broader audience that catapulted the brand to new heights.

You see, Donatella was ahead of her time in that she understood people’s obsession with the idea of celebrity. She threw Versace on the biggest print models of the 1980s and 1990s and made them walk the runway, thus creating a new breed of “supermodels”. Donatella did the same with noteworthy artists, politicians, and business personalities. She dressed the likes of Elton John and Prince Charles for only the most glamorous and talked about events. Today, you’ll watch a Hollywood awards show or read about it in the paper the next day. Aside from who won what, people are just as interested (if not more) in learning which fashion designers were the most popular among the elite crowd. This trend is a direct remnant of Donatella’s grand vision to make Versace relevant among the masses.

Today is all about the Internet and the digital world. Big fashion brands dealing with both content and merchandise have significantly bolstered their online presence in recent years. Donatella appreciates the budding relationship fashion and web-based technology have been able to establish as of late. But she knows this is the start of something much bigger. Read any article on The Business of Fashion (heck, analyze the website itself) and you’ll notice that over the next decade, the fashion industry is in for a major over-haul. The Internet is allowing for retailers of fashion merchandise the world over to:

• Communicate with their audience intimately and intelligently
• Accurately serve the tastes of an increasingly fragmented consumer base
• Capitalize on social and pop culture trends in real-time

Take a look at the Versus Versace home page. The site has yet to launch in its entirety, but it’s indicative of the gears presently turning in Donatella’s head. From capsule collections with the most popular emerging designers and music artists, to video content that resonates with an eternally irreverent youth, Donatella is cooking up a technology driven way to speak directly to a new generation of fashion lovers. A generation that’s wired to the core.

To put it in Donatella’s own words, Versus is “all about fun, change, and digital”. She’s onto something.

- Qasim